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Season of the Fool is Lynne Cantwell’s latest book which is part of this month’s round on kindlescout. Today’s post is a last push to get the word out and also to share her thank you giveaway with all her readers and you.

For those of you who are not aware of the kindlescout program, it is a reader-powered publishing platform for new, never-before-published books. We have the power here, because we the readers get to help decide if a book gets published. Selected books will
be published by Kindle Press.

Today I’m hosting Lynne to share an opportunity to not only help out, but get a chance to get a free book! As a way to thank EVERYONE for nominating, each book you nominate, not just this one, will be sent from kindlescout to your reader! Each book, as in can nominate up to three more books after Seasons of the Fool ;). The nominations close on the 26th so with Lady Reader’s Tours, I am helping this push to share this and get more nominations!

There are a couple ways you can help and Lynne has an EPIC cool THANK YOU GIVEAWAY for a KindleHD6 in any color you want.

You can share the post :), you can click and share this pre-made link….

This is also the reveal of her new cover. Let’s get it nominated!

Seasons of the Fool

Julia Morton Michaud has fled Chicago for her grandparents’ summer home in Michiana. She believes the cottage near Lake Michigan will be a refuge – a quiet place for her to pursue a writing career while her spirit heals from a string of failed relationships.

But her past keeps intruding. Her ex-husband, Lance, is under investigation for defrauding his wealthy investors, and the specter of having to testify at his trial hangs over her. She begins a new relationship with a man she hardly knows. And her neighbor and former lover, David Turner, is trapped in his own troubled marriage.

Julia discovers a labyrinth in the woods near her cottage. It belongs to Elsie and Thea, the elderly ladies who live at the end of the lane. Julia wants to use it for meditation, but she doesn’t know the risks. For the women have their own agenda, and it’s tied to the rug Elsie is endlessly weaving.

The truths Julia learns in the labyrinth have the potential to change all their lives – if only she will take them to heart.

She worked as a broadcast journalist for many years; she has written for CNN, the late lamented Mutual/NBC Radio News, and a bunch of radio and TV news outlets you have probably never heard of, including a defunct wire service called Zapnews.

Lynne’s vast overeducation includes a journalism degree from Indiana University, a masters degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University, and a paralegal certificate. She is a contributing author at Indies Unlimited.

Across Lake Shore Drive from the beach, behind the multi-million-dollar “cottages” atop the dunes – the ones with views all the way to Chicago – the woods begin.

Old-growth oak and maple tower over the faux log cabins that nestle into the understory – dogwood, sassafras, tulip poplar, and the occasional pine. Most of the houses look vacant. School begins earlier than it used to, and the families who spent their summer days frolicking in the waves and riding bikes along the winding lanes have gone back to their workaday lives on the other side of the lake. But here and there, windows are still open to catch the warm, early September air. The cars in the driveways of most of these homes sport Indiana or Michigan plates, but some belong to the summer people for whom summer hasn’t quite yet ended.

Here’s one on a corner just a block from Lake Michigan. There’s a gray station wagon with Illinois plates parked in the concrete driveway, and a pickup truck with local plates angled in behind it. A couple of guys in t-shirts and worn jeans are erecting a sign in the front yard – “Ames Construction Co.” – while a man with thinning ginger hair signs something on a clipboard.

We turn the corner onto Nokomis Trail and pass a few more cottages, interspersed with vacant lots where wild grapevines twist around neighboring saplings. In a manicured yard that would look at home in any suburb, an elderly man pushes a lawn mower. On the street in front of his house, a wooden mallard stands guard over his mailbox and two others, its whirligig wings spinning lazily in the breeze.

Every now and then, the man pauses to wipe his forehead with a carefully-folded red bandanna; as he pauses, he shakes his head over the cottage across the way, nearly invisible behind a riot of unkempt bushes and vines.

Next to this abandoned house is a vacant lot. Next to that, at the very end of Nokomis Trail, is a tiny cottage that looks like something out of a fairy story. Garden statuary – here a frog, there a nymph on a log – nestle amidst gangly purple mums. A gnome guards the entrance to the stepping-stone walk, and several wind chimes hang from the porch eaves.

The elderly man glances toward this cottage and crosses himself surreptitiously. Then he goes back to work.

****

Inside the cottage at the end of the lane, a plump, matronly woman with a cheerful face hums as she works a loom. The frame takes up most of the living room, leaving only space enough for the fieldstone fireplace, two easy chairs, and a tiny television.

The woman pauses in her work and whistles, long and low. “Well,” she says to herself. “Isn’t that interesting.”

Just then, the back door bangs shut. The woman at the loom looks toward the kitchen, where a tall, thin woman with a narrow face has just come in. Out of habit, she ducks under the herbs hanging from the rafters as she removes her gardening gloves.

“Mind your shoes, dear,” the plump woman says. “I just swept.”

“I’m going back out,” the tall one says as she gets herself a glass of water at the sink. As she waits for the glass to fill, she says, “I saw another dragonfly. That makes seven, just this morning.”
“Was this one headed up the street, too? Toward the Morton place?”

The tall woman nods, then downs half of the water in one long drink. “Looks like things are about to change around here.”

“Yes,” the plump woman says, examining her weaving. “I see that.” She turns back to the tall woman with a sunny smile. “At last!”

****

At the same moment, thirty-five miles across the lake as the crow flies, Julia Morton Michaud sits in her lawyer’s office. Elaine’s firm is small, so their offices in Chicago’s Loop don’t command the sweeping view of the city that a larger firm would have. But as the Haddon of O’Leary and Haddon LLP, Elaine rates an office with a glimpse of the lake.

Julia attempts to maintain a professional demeanor as Elaine goes through the checklist: life insurance, health insurance, retirement accounts. The country club membership. The burial plots. All of the knotted strands that will have to be untangled before her marriage can be dissolved.
All of the legal knots, anyway. The emotional bonds frayed away long since.

“Now, the checking accounts,” Elaine says.

“Equal split,” says Julia. “Same with the savings and money market accounts. And the stocks.” She expects a fight over the stocks, but intends to stand her ground. She needs those investments to live the life she means to live. And she refuses to let Lance get away with everything.

“And the real estate?” the lawyer goes on. “I assume he’s keeping the Gold Coast condo. But you’re going to keep the house in Evanston, right?”

“No,” Julia says. “He can have that, too.”

Elaine looks at her over the top of her reading glasses. “It’s worth several million dollars, isn’t it?” At Julia’s nod, the lawyer goes on, “Well, we have some options. We can ask him to buy you out. Or we can stipulate that the house be put on the market.”

“I don’t want the money,” Julia blurts. “I don’t want any part of that house. He can have it.”
Elaine gives her a look of barely-concealed disbelief. “As your attorney,” she says, “I would strongly advise that that would be against your best interests. But as your friend….” She shakes her head. “Julia, what are you thinking? You’re entitled to half the house, as well as half the condo. And most of your wealth is tied up in your real estate holdings, unless I miss my guess. What are you going to live on, if you give everything to him? For that matter, where are you going to live?”

Julia tilts her chin up. “The house in Michiana. I’m going to live there.”

“In that derelict cottage?” Elaine’s shock is plain.

“It’s not derelict,” Julia says, defensive. “It needs some work, that’s all. And it’s quiet. It’s the perfect place for me to get my head together and do some serious writing.”

The attorney shakes her head. “So you’re really going to lock yourself away in that moldy old place. I thought you were kidding when you mentioned it at dinner last week.”

“Nope.” Julia pulls her chin up higher. “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. This is exactly what I want to do.”

The lawyer sighs. “Well, I’ll draw up the agreement with that in place and send you a draft by tomorrow morning at the latest. But I think you’re making a big mistake.”

Julia nods – in acknowledgement, not in agreement. She looks past Elaine’s shoulder and out the window, beyond the end of the concrete canyon, where a sliver of Lake Michigan is visible. The waves glitter in the harsh light of midday. It feels like a promise. Or like a release.

Silence draws her attention back to her friend. Elaine is regarding her with a wistful expression. “We’ll miss you,” she says.

Julia waves away the sentiment. “It’s not like I’m moving to the moon,” she says with a laugh. “I’ll only be sixty miles away.”

the goblin was simple enough, saying “…well, much of what I write is based on the question what in my life is worth posting, where, if something is, I try to see if I can catch it in a text…”, and then the search was on to find some picture that would match whatever the text portrayed, saying “…well yes, rather like a clothes statement I suppose…”, and finally he would post it while keeping a copy to see who he was by it, simply his journey to self was this then, but he felt too, that his awareness of that self was growing with the ongoing practice now

Thanks so much for having me on your blog today, Lucy. I’m thrilled to be here!

What is the biggest difference between writing legal papers and fiction? Other than the obvious, one is non-fiction and the other fiction. 🙂

I think the biggest difference…is the tremendous amount of research when it comes to writing legal papers. Researching, reading, and citing cases can take months and even sometimes years in preparation for many types of legal actions. In fiction, in most cases, we can usually research a topic fairly quickly.

Name three topics you would like to educate adults on.

Graphic Design

Plotting a Fiction Novel

How to Write a Book Review

Is there anything that really gets you on your soapbox?

Animal abuse. Gets me every time. I have spent a lot of years as an advocate for those who don’t have a voice and will continue to do so.

Is there any food or beverage that is a constant factor in either your books or life?

Not so much in my books but in my life…heck yes! Coffee! I will never give up my coffee. You can’t make me! <grin>

Directions:
Mix together lime juice, tequila, mexican oregano, minced garlic, onion powder, ground cumin, and 1 tablespoon of fresh cilantro in a small bowl.Place tuna fillet in a ziploc bag and pour marinade over fish.
Remove excess air from bag and seal.
Refrigerate for one hour, while you prepare your grill.
Prepare grill by spraying grill surface with non-stick cooking spray BEFORE applying heat.
Over medium-hot grill (gas, charcoal, electric) cook tuna or fish, turning once, until cooked through (you may just cook on exterior if you prefer).
(The cooking time will depend upon the thickness of your fillet; tuna can be eaten rare. Do not overcook your fillet, however.) Set aside.
Briefly heat corn tortillas carefully on grill.
Do not overcook, or they will get hard.
Break fish into small chunks or shredded pieces and place about 1 1/2 ounces on a double layer of corn tortilla for each taco.
Add shredded cabbage, diced tomatoes and chopped cilantro and squeeze a wedge of lime over the taco contents. If you like avocado, you can add some as well.

If you wish a spicier taste, add the chilies.

Those sound and look delish!

What is the title of the book you would like to talk about, and can you give us a small taster of it?

REFLECTION (A Whitney Steel Novel) is my debut romantic suspense. The book is about a reporter’s determination to expose an illegal human cloning project. The story evolved after Clonaid (a company founded by the religious sect called the Raelians, announced the birth of Eve, the “first human clone” in 2002 using the similar technique to clone, Dolly the Sheep. About 160 nations in the world have yet to outlaw the birth of human clones and others are allowing the creation of human clones as long as they are not put into a woman’s womb (how do we know they aren’t implanted?), add a kick-ass heroine, a sexy FBI agent, and a villain you love to hate, thus, REFLECTION was born.

And here is the back cover blurb.

Florida investigative reporter, Whitney Steel, has lived in the shadow of her legendary father long enough. To prove herself she needs to find the “Big” story.

She found it.

Now it may kill her.

After Whitney receives a lead pointing to the world’s first cloned human, now a small child, she vows to unravel the truth. However, sifting through the facts proves to have dangerous results, including death threats and murder.

When Whitney is nearly killed, but is saved by undercover FBI Special Agent, Blake Neely, he refuses to let her get in the way of his own objective—at least not right away.

Caught in a lethal game between a billionaire obsessed with genetic perfection, his hit man’s thirst for retribution, and a Colombian drug lord fresh out of prison determined to make Blake pay for his twin brother’s death over a decade ago…

Can they save an innocent child before it’s too late?

Faced with tough choices, with deadly consequences for many—Whitney soon realizes that sometimes a story becomes more than just a story.

Did you have difficulty coming up with the title?

No, not at all. I think the title works perfectly for a book about an illegal human cloning project.

What do you do marketing wise and what do you think generates the most attention to your books?

I spend some time promoting via interviews and excerpts on social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Tumblr) but what works best for me is word of mouth which seems to generate the most interest in my work.

And finally, can you tell me something none has ever heard before from you? I just love those little dirty secrets, real or make believe. 🙂

Most people don’t know this…

I’m a gamer chick! A gaming junkie. Have been since the ’80s. I’m a die-hard PC gamer and known to play first-person shooters (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3), adventure, fantasy and RPG’s (Role Playing Games).

Thanks for being so open and giving me a yum recipe to add to my collection. Let me finish by reminding the readers they can buy their copy of Reflection at AMAZON and B&N

Hi Laurie, how nice of you to join me on my blog today and that you are willing to shed some light on what drives you to write these great books, but for that I need to ask you some questions. Brace yourself, for here they come …

Can you give me your best Whoop? Unless you have another one which works better for you?

Okay, sounds like a winner that one, but does it work all the time, even those times when the muse has gone and done a runner on you? And when did you first start with it?

Anything that gets the blood moving. I think I started using it when my husband introduced me to NASCAR and football. (Not sports I ever would have sat down to watch on my own.) And about the muse? I don’t muse much about my muse. I’m a writer. I sit down and write. The times it flows and the times it doesn’t, I attribute more to my physical and emotional state. For instance, when I can do little more than stare at the same sentence, it’s generally because I’m tired or need to eat or get some exercise.

Right, sounds like you are on the right track there. Let’s do a few of the yada yada questions before we move on to the fun.

Yes and no. Actually, it was excruciating. The working title had been The C Word since I started the first draft, because among the older generations of my family, nobody said “cancer.” It was the C Word, or never mentioned. Jewish superstitions, I think. But when I prepped the manuscript for publishing, the title was in use on at least six cancer memoirs. [This is not one, by the way, although a character in the book has cancer.] So I immediately thought of Don’t Tell Anyone, because nearly all the characters in the book have a secret and at some point ask their confidantes not to tell. Idismissed it initially, brainstormed about 250 new titles, and came back to Don’t Tell Anyone because my writing group and my husband really liked it.

If you would have to change the genre, what would it be then?

Of this book, or in my writing in general? For this book, I toyed with making it a full-out, Coen brothers style dark comedy. But it didn’t work.

Just to confuse you we’ll take the alternative route now.

What don’t you like about writing, or whatever you need to do marketing wise?

I love writing. I love editing. Constructive criticism, bring it on. Marketing, not so much. I’m an introvert. We’d rather talk to one or two people at a time. I’m working on that.

Tell me, when your muse is visiting and you’re on a roll, what would seriously drive her/him away?

What drives the writing flow away for me is fatigue. Or if I’m doing something contrary to what my gut is telling me. That often means I’m off-track.

What does your muse look like?

The closest thing I’ve had to an actual muse is my late mother-in-law. She was one of my biggest fans. Sometimes she haunts my writing room and I can smell her perfume. I can almost hear her voice: “Finish that book already; I need something good to read.”

Do you ever speak to your characters and do you get along all the time?

I frequently speak with them. We usually get along. If there’s a disagreement, it’s usually because I’m trying to make them do something they wouldn’t really do, or because they’re not ready to spill their secrets yet. You can’t rush a recalcitrant character.

Can you name the food and drink that will surely get you started?

Coffee or tea. Holding a hot mug centers me and helps me drift into the writing.

Would you be able to come up with an excuse on why you haven’t written a whole day, and have me believe it too?

I don’t write every day. I mark my progress by the week. Some I write more, some I write less. My excuse? I was editing a client’s manuscript. Or there was a good episode of The Big Bang Theory on.

Hahaha, those are actually very good reasons to procrastinate.

But why would you ever want to live life behind a keyboard slaving over a manuscript?

Because I don’t really like doing anything else.

Okay now that we have the mandatory questions out of the way, shoot your mouth off. Tell me whatever you want the blab about. But please no cat’s, dogs, or children. Make me laugh, or cry, or even envious. Tell me something none has ever heard before from you. hehehe, love those little dirty secrets, real or make believe. 🙂

No problem, because I have no cats, dogs, or children. Although we have a lot of mice in our house, so one or more of the three would come in handy. I hear kids are really great at catching mice. Secrets? I always wanted to play second base for the New York Mets. Or be an umpire. I’m annoyed that I failed the height requirement to become a Radio City Hall Rockette. It took me five years to write my first novel (never published), and received 138 literary agent rejections, including one by an agent who also writes romance novels. In the book I make fun of romance novels. She was not amused.

Right, now let’s give out something about the writer. You know, some facts the fans would love to know.

Laurie Boris is a freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and former graphic designer. She is the author of three novels:

When not playing with the universe of imaginary people in her head, she enjoys baseball, cooking, reading, and helping aspiring novelists as a contributing writer and editor for IndiesUnlimited.com. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Monday has come again and so has the Goblin. Today he muses about choice.

***

the goblin felt awake now, as if all before had been a dream, and yet, he was once more faced a little white slot that said “…why not feed me to find yourself goblin, take that journey to self here…”, but the goblin knew that one’s journey to self was ever some point on the horizon that one never really reached until the end came, “…yes like “find the end of the rainbow” is what you really mean slot isn’t it, so you think I’m yet another donkey willing to follow your carrot once more…” whereupon the slot replied, “…well perhaps goblin, but in life there are only two carrots now, their’s and your’s, and surely you’ve followed their carrot long enough, haven’t you goblin, and besides there’s no rainbow’s end with their carrot either, there’s just “more” on offer, and how well you know that too, but if you know that now, then which carrot you choose shows you to yourself doesn’t it..”